


One more night

by Shulik



Series: The night is young. [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek pines and angsts over Stiles, Gen, Isaac and Matt are bros forever, Isaac is an adopted Hale, M/M, Matt isn't actually crazy here, and Danny deserves a significant other that stays alive and non-douchey, baby!Hale, because I actually liked him and Danny, but he gets over it, though his crush on Allison is still intense, while Isaac and Laura make fun of him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-09
Updated: 2013-01-18
Packaged: 2017-11-13 21:03:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/507695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shulik/pseuds/Shulik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or how Isaac got adopted by the Hales, got himself a best friend, a boyfriend and a sassy bi friend. </p><p>Or, Isaac's life is hard and also a teenage soap opera. Jackson Whittemore is an unfair abomination, a personality like his over a body of a god. </p><p>Matt's totally in love with Allison, of course he is, he's been in love with her since he was twelve and whatever, Stilinski's been a creeper for longer- also, he keeps taking pictures of Danny shirtless for <i>artistic</i> reasons, nothing funny there but did he say something about Matt? </p><p>Derek pines and also worries about being an old lech and Laura is just amused by how she has somehow managed to surround herself with three absolute drama queens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [It's always harder getting in through the back door (or, how Isaac's life is very, very difficult because of teenage angst and bad puns)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/484159) by [extranuts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/extranuts/pseuds/extranuts). 



Isaac met Matt when they were in grade seven, having gone from two separate, smaller middle schools into one large junior high school that would later serve as their passageway into BHH. 

Laura and Derek had both done their pre-school freakout routines, the same as they had for both middle school and grade school. Laura had made them all go to the Wal-Mart one last time the night before, obsessively checking over everything Isaac might need and making sure he had enough backup school supplies in the library to provide for a small, very literate army come the zombie apocalypse. 

She had woken them both up at six o clock in the morning, the smell of coffee and pancakes the only good thing in a world where Laura’s eyes were shining brightly and a little crazily as she scolded Isaac’s long shower habits and Derek’s inability to wake up before his third cup of coffee. The whole morning was like a military operation, Laura had even had the dry-erase board thematically tricked out- burnt orange leaves bordering what Isaac, if he squinted with one eye, could sort of make out to be a werewolf wearing a backpack and holding a flag that said- ‘Hales Number 1!’

On the other hand, Derek had become even more moody than usual in the week before school started. 

While Laura’s crazy was very, very apparent and visible- especially during the holiday season when their neighbours would have to wear _sunglasses_ as they walked past their house because of the million Christmas lights, various lawn ornaments and that one ugly Santa Claus that Laura made Derek climb the roof for every year- Derek’s special brand of insanity was a quiet one. He would _brood_ , he would brood like there was no tomorrow coming and no good things left in the world. Isaac didn’t like to remember what things had been like before he had become a Hale and Laura had thrown half their inheritance at the city office in order to make it official in as little time as possible- but the very thought that Derek might have been _worse_ once upon a time, that was unbelievable. 

Laura had said, time and again, that Isaac was the best thing to happen to both of them. She was the one more likely to actually talk about feelings, and give hugs and just generally be the kind, human Hale sibling while Derek once popped some major fangs at a playground because one of the nannies had thrown herself at him and Isaac who had been twelve and had wanted an ice cream more than life itself during the heat of that summer had been the one who had to drag Derek away, babbling about special effects and his brother being a movie extra and wasn’t the summer just _fun_? 

Thankfully, Isaac’s curls combined with wide blue eyes had usually worked as the best way to counter Derek’s caveman brows and what Laura had affectionately named as his ‘murder stare’. 

Anyway, back to Matt. 

Isaac had been one of the last ones out of the locker rooms after gym and he had just come out of the shower when he remembered that he had left the watch that Derek and Laura had given him for Christmas out on the bleachers. He had taken it off during laps, too afraid that it would slip off his still bony wrist and get lost in the grass and it was now missing. 

Isaac grimaced but started jogging back to the bleachers. No matter how many rich douches went to this school and the probability of one of them deciding to steal his watch being zero to nil, he still didn’t want to leave something that important to him at school overnight. 

Outside, the Archery Club was practicing, arrows flying and most of them missing their targets before they could land. 

Isaac climbed the bleachers, sighing in relief as he glimpsed the flash of metal. He put the watch on and was just about to leave when he saw one of the other kids, Matt-something standing under a thatch of trees shooting pictures of the archers practicing. 

Isaac would have left it alone but something about the way that Matt had been standing, against the glare of the sun and in the shadows of the trees- it meant that no one from the field would be able to easily catch sight of him and the only reason why Isaac _had_ , it was because he had been looking sideways from the bleachers. 

Thankfully Derek had taught him how to walk quietly in any terrain and while he’d never be able to fool a were, he was still quiet enough not to startle a human. 

Matt was taking pictures of the brown haired archer, a pretty girl with a dimpled smile and a fierce sort of determination to her. Lots and lots of pictures of her. 

“You know that’s sort of creepy right?” Isaac had said after watching the images flicker through Matt’s camera. 

There was flailing and shrieking but kudos to him, Matt actually managed to recover pretty fast. “Jesus,” he rubbed at his chest and eyed Isaac warily, “you want to talk about creepy? How about not fucking sneaking up on people?” 

Isaac shrugged, “yeah, but I was curious to see who exactly it was from that you’re hiding.” He paused and then cocked his head, “but you’re not hiding, instead- you’re just lurking in the trees, in the dark. All alone. Spying on a girl.” He tsked. 

“Not cool man.” 

Matt flushed a bright red, “I’m not spying on her!” 

“Oh yeah?” Isaac raised his eyebrows. “Does _she_ know that she’s apparently your model du jour?” 

Laura had been trying to learn from French and the house was littered with dictionaries and conversation booklets. Isaac had been trying to pick up a couple of phrases. Someone had told him that chicks dug guys that could speak foreign languages, he just didn’t know if- well… That was another story. 

“Whatever,” Matt had muttered, slipping the camera off his neck and undoing lenses and what looked like half the thing in a couple of simple moves, “it’s not like I’m the only one with a crush on a girl who’ll never talk to me.” 

“Really?” Isaac made a face. 

“Yeah,” Matt’s mouth had curled in a half grin, “Stilinski’s been obsessed with Lydia Martin since we were eight, and nobody ever says anything to _that_ dweeb.” 

“Maybe it’s because he’s not being a giant creeper and taking pictures of her that she doesn’t know about,” Isaac had shrugged. “Just a thought.” 

Matt had stared at him and at thirteen, Isaac was already hitting his growth spurt so he stood taller than the other boy, lankier, but Matt had more muscle than him. 

The silence stretched between them and Isaac had tensed, watching Matt pull up- Laura would be _pissed_ if he got into a fight his first day at school. 

Matt, instead, had started laughing- “how do _you_ know that Stilinksi’s not taking pictures of Lydia? He could be.” 

Isaac’s mouth twitched and he smiled back at Matt, kind of helpless and a little bit awed by the fact that it felt like they were _bonding_ and maybe even, Matt would want to be friends. 

Isaac was quiet, he liked to read and he liked comic books and most importantly, the whole town still remembered what had happened to make him the ward of Laura Hale, rumours floating around like- his old babysitter Laura had found him locked in a freezer in the basement, fingernails bloody and torn from where he had tried so hard to get out; Derek had accidentally killed Isaac’s father; Laura had not-so accidentally killed Isaac’s father; nobody had killed Isaac’s father but he had left town after signing away all of his parental rights and Laura had almost destroyed the police station when they tried to take Isaac away from her, saying that she was already taking care of her own brother and why yes, she _did_ want to be burdened with two boys, both of them messed up. 

It would have taken the county more time and money to try and find Isaac’s family, and Laura had already established herself as a trustworthy member of the community- even at nineteen. 

Isaac had been asked if he wanted to stay with her and he had agreed, mostly aware of nothing except for the warmth of Derek’s hand as he held on to him and the fluffiness of Derek’s old hoodie that he had brought with him to the station when Laura had called him down. 

All of the stories had led to Isaac not really having friends in school, which was _fine_ \- he had Derek who was graduating from high school this year but who was also a secret nerd, who had read more depressing Russian literature than anyone else that Isaac had ever _heard_ of, who had a secret sweet tooth and would watch shitty sci fi and fantasy movies with Isaac whenever he was sick or just wanted to escape from his own head and who made chocolate cake from scratch for both his and Laura’s birthdays every year. 

But as much as Derek cared about him, and Isaac _knew_ that he did- it still wasn’t enough. 

It didn’t take the place of having friends his own age, people he’d have stuff in common with beyond Laura’s chronic inability to cook and endless debates of Batman versus Superman. And after hearing Derek’s terrible, awkward attempt at having ‘the talk’ with Isaac- that had been it for any kind of conversations about personal lives in the Hale house. 

“I’m Matt,” Matt had said and then extended his hand for one of those awkward, bro-shakes that at thirteen had seemed like the coolest thing ever to everyone in their class. 

“Isaac,” Isaac said and _smiled_. 

 

+

 

Laura had grumbled about another teenage boy eating them out of house and home but then had cooked enough to feed a small army or a herd of ravenous gremlins before they came over after school. 

Matt, who apparently when away from the wiles of the stalkerlicious love of his life, was actually pretty good with parental figures and had even awkwardly tried to compliment Laura on their house- clearly used to dealing with much older females of the house and ones who didn’t answer the door in cut-off sweats and obscenely pink t-shirts with rainbow unicorns on them. He had babbled something about their shiny, hardwood floors and how hard it must be to take care of them before falling silent, staring at Laura besottedly with a glazed look in his eyes. 

Too late, Isaac had realized that his guardian had Allison Argent’s coloring, but where their classmate had brown eyes- Laura’s were the same strange blue green as Derek’s, changing colours based on her mood and what she’d be wearing. Vaguely, Isaac knew that both Derek and Laura were attractive- from the way that the cheerleaders at the high school would stop him in the street, tittering about whether it was true that Derek had once killed a man with his bare hands and Isaac would go home to watch Derek _bake_ with his bare hands to the dirty looks Laura would get at the grocery store from the older housewives when she’d come in with a younger Isaac, wearing jean cut-offs while he’d trail behind her, eyes wide as she’d fill the grocery cart to the very brim with all of his favorites. 

Isaac elbowed Matt when it looked like he wouldn’t be able to stop staring and then, when Laura had asked them, laughing quietly whether they were hungry- Matt had almost brained himself trying to get to the sink to help her. 

Derek had been much more unimpressed with Matt, glaring at him all throughout dinner and when Matt had tried to make cow eyes at Laura, sending her into peals of delighted laughter- Derek had actually honest to god _snarled_ at him and that was that. 

Matt was in. 

And that was junior high. 

Matt’s presence eventually becoming an everyday occurrence at their house and both Derek and Laura had once gone over to the Daehler home before coming back, both grim faced and promising Isaac that he could have his friend over any time he wanted but that he couldn’t go over there. 

Isaac had long figured out that there was something wrong there, from the way that Matt would avoid talking about his mother and all the time that he would spend outside of his house, either working on his photography or just mooching around while Derek tried not to murder him with the force of his glare. 

Isaac had eventually broken Matt’s crush on Allison down to manageable levels where they wouldn’t get him arrested and Matt in turn, had given Isaac valuable lessons on how not to interact with people he liked. 

Mainly things like not to get caught taking pictures of Allison’s shiny, flippy hair by her psychotic, gun-toting father but also like the time when they had accidentally, and by accidentally, Isaac meant that Matt had blackmailed him pretty hardcore- had crashed four of Lydia Martin’s parties just on the off-chance that Allison would be there. Allison had been there twice and both times, Matt had spent the party making these sad, dying duck sounds in the direction of Allison while she laughed and danced with other pretty people who had never really given either Isaac or Matt the time of day. 

And then came high school. 

 

+

 

Beacon Hills High was actually the only high school around for three different suburbs and though- generally, people like the Whittemores and the Hales lived in very, very different areas of the town- there wasn’t enough of the population to justify building another high school. 

Matt lived in the apartment complex off Highland, the one with the sad little box in the ground that the landlord had bravely termed as a pool and white paint in the hallways that they had to re-do every year because it kept peeling. Isaac, Derek and Laura had a small bungalow not too far from the apartment blocks- close enough for Matt to be able to spend enough time there without being late for curfew. 

Isaac had seen pictures of the original Hale house though, before the fire- it was enormous but it was also situated in the woods and though their family might have been well off once upon a time, they still weren’t the kind of rich that the Martins and Whittemores of town were. 

That was all fine while Isaac and Matt had been attending different schools than most of the rich douchebags in town, but once their class had merged with the prep-school across town, their smaller classes combining into the larger ones for high school, that was when the problems started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I'm on Tumblr- shulik1. I welcome all who aren't easily startled, that like writing, art, fanfic, gay wolves, gay angels, hip hop. Everything and anything. 
> 
> Also, I post snippets of upcoming chapters, talk about writing difficulties and talk about my original work. 
> 
> I love people and I talk too much in any medium.


	2. Chapter 2

Isaac told Matt about his terrible, terrible crush on Jackson when they turned fifteen. They were lounging around the park, Matt with his learner’s guitar that he had taken up when he had read somewhere that girls dug musicians and Isaac with the small hacky sack that he had been playing around with for half the day. 

“What?” Matt stopped plucking at the strings, and the sad, awful sounds of dogs crying from audial pain stopped. 

Derek had kicked them out of the house when Matt had come over, clutching the guitar to his chest and smiling wildly and hopefully. 

“No,” he had said resolutely, staring at Matt with a chilling stare. “I absolutely forbid it.” 

“You can’t just forbid me to bring my guitar into your home,” Matt had thrown back. 

He had developed a worrying habit of talking back to Derek and when Isaac had asked him once, whether he had a death wish or he just wanted to see how long it would take Derek to snap his neck, Matt had replied that he was trying to build up his confidence and if going up against the scariest guy they knew and _living_ through it was the way to do it, then damn it all, Matt was going to mouth off like he had everything riding on it. 

Which, considering the sad, wistful way he had been eyeing the girls’ washroom where Isaac had caught the tail end of dark hair disappearing to- was something like an understatement. 

“Alright,” Derek had raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. He loomed over them, even Isaac who had hit the same height as Derek two months before and was still coming to terms about not looking up at Derek and feeling dwarfed by his shadow. “Show me what you have,” Derek pointed at the guitar and then bared his teeth, “and _then_ I’ll forbid you from coming into my home.”

Matt had narrowed his stare before throwing the loop around his shoulder and carefully arranging the guitar to his liking. He took a deep breath and ten seconds later, Isaac was pushing him out of the door, shouting “we’ll be back for dinner!” before Derek could murder Matt’s aspiring musician ways. 

“I have to talk to you,” Isaac said, not looking at Matt’s face as he begun. 

“About what?” Matt continued plucking at the strings earnestly and another dog snarled at them from the nearby dog park. 

“Remember how you’ve always said that I don’t know what it’s like to be in love with somebody?” Isaac sighed and stared off into the distance. 

Laura once told him that his habit of spacing out and his looks made him look like a young Eugene Onegin and then Derek had finished- ‘instead of a braindead teenager’ but nobody listened to him since he had developed the worrying habit of going for early jogs. 

“Yes and?” Matt looked up at him with that faint worry line between his brows. 

“Weelll…” Isaac scratched the back of his neck and tried harder to look like a Russian poet. 

“What…oh my god…” Matt finally put the guitar aside and stared at him, “were you _bullshitting_ me?” he demanded. 

“Kind of?” Isaac shrugged sheepishly. 

“Oh,” Matt shook his head, “oh, that is _so_ against the bro code man. That’s just _wrong_ , you don’t lie about your secret crush to your best friend!” 

Matt had developed a worrying policy about honesty between the two of them after Isaac had cajoled him into showing his Allison shrine. To be honest, Isaac had immediately regretted bribing Matt into doing it but he had already stolen one of Derek’s leather bracelets and there was no going back now that Matt had wrapped it around his wrist, effectively sealing his scent in and letting Derek know who exactly was now the proud owner of it. 

“So, who is it?” Matt squinted at him, betrayed and deeply curious. 

Isaac could tell by the way the tips of Matt’s ears had turned pink. It was the same tell he had every time somebody mentioned seeing Allison in town. 

Isaac took a deep, fortifying breath because no matter how insane his best friend might have gotten over a girl who barely knew he existed, he was still a teenage _boy_ and Isaac had seen Matt’s collection of Angelina Jolie pictures. 

“Come on man,” Matt prompted when the silence started to drag on a little too much, “tell me.” He huffed, “I’m betting the dude isn’t even as good looking as Allison is.” 

Isaac started, “wait, what? Dude?” He let out a nervous peal of laughter. 

Matt blew out a breath, “well _yeah_.” He stopped, “oh man, were you worried about the dude thing? You shouldn’t be,” Matt said seriously and honestly, “I’ve known you were gay since the first day that Derek had started at the garage.” 

“ _How_?” Isaac breathed out in awe. Even _he_ had only figured out that he was gay six months ago and Derek had started at the garage towards the end of grade seven. 

“Well,” Matt looked at him pityingly, “there was the fact that you kept making lunches to take to Derek and then would forget all about him and feed his food to Tony.” 

Isaac flushed hotly, “whatever, Tony didn’t have anyone to feed him.” 

“Yes,” Matt said, “but that was because his boyfriend was in jail and you spent half your time looking at Tony’s tattoos.” 

“Sometimes I really regret the fact that I tell you everything,” Isaac said feelingly. 

“No you don’t,” Matt rolled his eyes, “now enough stalling, tell me who you’re crushing on so I can use this as blackmail for the rest of our natural born lives.” 

Isaac took a deep breath and looked into the distance once again, or to be more precise, he looked at where the lacrosse team was holding second-line try outs after school. 

Matt followed his line of sight. “Oh no,” he shook his head, “oh please no, don’t tell me it’s a lacrosse player. _Please_ Isaac, anything but that.“ He looked like he was about to break out into prayer. 

“ It’s Jackson Whittemore,” Isaac said quickly, like was ripping off a band-aid. 

“Oh my god,” Matt breathed out in horror, “is that why you keep dragging us to this park every time we have to leave your house?” His mouth started falling open, “oh my _god_ Isaac- is this why you’ve started helping me with my photography on Thursdays?” Matt looked deeply, deeply betrayed. 

On Thursdays, the lacrosse team would practice shirts against skins and if Isaac was a better friend, he wouldn’t have insisted quite so fervently that their theme for Matt’s next photography project be school sports but alas, Isaac was a teenager and Jackson was a narcissist who insisted playing skins each time so it all worked out for the best. 

“I’m sorry,” Isaac had offered and then watched as Matt jumped up from the bench, ready to launch into one of his diatribes on the evil of organized sports but had apparently forgotten about the guitar strap that had been looped around his knees, windmilled for a moment and then went down hard on his new instrument. 

“On the plus side, Derek’s probably going to let you back into the house now-“ Isaac said watching Matt groan from the wreckage of his latest failure to win Allison’s heart. 

 

+

 

“I just thought I should tell you that I’m not comfortable with this,” Isaac said grimly, sitting on the bench and watching Matt pace in front of him, arms waving wildly and the mild sheen of insanity in his eyes.

“That’s crazy! You’re fine with this!” Matt exclaimed. 

“No…” Isaac shook his head tiredly, “ _you’re_ crazy.” 

Matt didn’t look like he was listening, instead he clutched the notebook with what Isaac could see as several differently coloured post-its and placeholders sticking out of the pages and what he sincerely didn’t want to be a cut out picture of Allison but wasn’t holding on to the last, sad shred of hope. 

“I’m not crazy,” Matt turned to him, or more like _whirled_ at him- “I have a _plan_.” 

Idly, Isaac noted that Matt’s hair hadn’t moved while he was running around- it still retained the basic shape from what Isaac remembered it looking like this morning, right down to the small cowlick that Matt would get from where he used the photolab as a surreptitious napping place during third period. He made a mental note to borrow Matt’s hairgel the next time. 

“And don`t even _think_ about trying to filch my hair gel,” Matt raised a finger, squinting down at Isaac. Damn the fact that four years of best-friendship, both Matt and him had developed an unerring sense of when their stuff was being threatened. 

“What?” Isaac feigned innocence. It was pretty damn hard doing the puppy dog eyes when the sun was beating directly into your line of sight, but Isaac had grown up with Derek and if there was one thing that being a Hale had taught him, it was that obstinate persistence was one of the surest ways to get you what you want. 

“Oh don’t even _give_ me that look,” Matt made a face at him and then poked him in the chest with a bony, bony finger. “I’ve seen you _practicing_ that look in front of the mirror.” 

Isaac thought about replying with everything that he’d ever seen Matt practice in front of the mirror, but this was high school and they were sixteen and also, Laura had made him promise to be less of a sarcastic ‘teenager’ as she had put it. 

While Isaac’s puppy eyes could have used some work, Laura’s crazy eyes were still a thing of legend and even Derek, who had been mooching around in the garage had felt the awesome force of their glare and had promptly slithered in- covered in grease and looking penitent. 

“Whatever,” Isaac said instead and thought that somewhere out there, Laura was probably feeling a sense of accomplishment and also insanity. “So, what’s the plan then, Romeo?” he quirked an eyebrow. 

“We-“ Matt begun before Isaac interrupted him. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa-“ he held up a hand, “don’t be starting conversations with the word ‘we’”. 

Isaac narrowed his eyes, “I refuse to be dragged into more of your crazy schemes. Allison’s father is terrifying and also, this is a new school for us- and a new chance  
not to be known as the crazy guys who almost drowned in the pool at the last house party.” 

Instantly, Matt’s face shadowed- “that was a shitty, shitty time man. They _laughed_ ,” he said darkly and was preparing to launch into his standard rant about how life was unfair and how that douchebag who had pushed him into the pool deserved to get electrocuted in the _face_ when Isaac smacked him. 

“Ow!” Matt yelped and then smacked Isaac back. 

“Oh calm down you big drama queen,” Isaac said amiably and also a little bit impressed- Matt’s biceps had gotten bigger in the last year and he no longer hit like a big girl in the middle of a hissy fit. “I dragged you out of that pool and of _course_ everyone laughed.” He grinned, “it was funny, and you’d think it was funny as well if it wasn’t you that was thrown in and also Allison hadn’t seen the whole thing.”

“You think she still remembers that?” Matt frowned. 

There was a silence, broken up by the birds in the trees and the leaves rustling before Isaac snorted and broke it- “it was last _week_ ” he said. 

Matt looked like he was seriously considering finding a new pool to drown himself in before visibly shaking himself of morbid thoughts, “well, never mind. This year is going to be different. There’s going to be more people in our classes so Greenberg won’t get a chance to be a douche, and I spent my last paycheck on a brand new wardrobe so you know, things will be _different_.” He stared off into the distance and from where Isaac was sitting, watching Matt with the knowledge that Matt was secretly a huge nerd and got more enthusiastic about movie nights than Derek and the fact that they had even bought a Nintendo was because of that month when Matt wouldn’t talk about his home but had ended up staying later and later each night until Laura had finally broken down and had dragged the two of them to Wal-Mart to get him a sleeping bag of his own. 

“They _have_ to be,” Matt said quietly. 

Isaac’s heart twinged for the guy, it really did. He didn’t know why it was exactly that Matt had gotten so focused on Allison and deep inside, he had started to think that the only reason why Matt kept up with this persistent thing for her was that he wouldn’t have to focus about finding somebody else, somebody that would actually get to _know_ him and could possibly be invited to watch Polaris with them, and would learn about Matt’s not so hidden competitive streak, especially when it came to board games and his crazy, obsessive love for marshmallows. 

“I hope so,” Isaac said and actually did. 

Things had to change. 

Which was when he felt Derek’s special brand of intense stalking its way towards them. 

“Derek?” Isaac frowned and stood up. “What’s wrong?” 

Derek’s jacket was open and he was still wearing his work-shirt, the name of the garage embroidered over the pocket, with a pair of his dingiest grey jeans. He looked like he had come straight from the garage and Isaac started breathing faster-Derek’s shift wasn’t supposed to be over for another three hours at least. 

Something was wrong. 

“Get in the car, both of you-“ Derek growled and grabbed both of them by the scruff of their necks before shoving them towards where Isaac could see the Camaro parked. 

“We’re going, we’re going- jeez,” Matt grumbled before stumbling towards the car, shooting Isaac an easily readable look that said ‘ _your adopted brother is insane and also violent_ ’. 

Isaac didn’t say anything, he knew how protective werewolves could get and he had been on the receiving end of their special kind of worry where their more animalistic sides would come out. Derek was _literally_ treating them like cubs, establishing pack order and protection but Matt didn’t need to know that. 

“Is Laura home?” Isaac shot a look at Derek who looked thunderous. 

Derek bit his lip and that was when Isaac tripped. 

Derek wasn’t _angry_ , he was _worried_. He looked _lost_ as he stared at Isaac, eyes wide and unseeing as he struggled for the words. 

“I,” he took a breath, “I don’t know where Laura is.” 

Even Matt had stilled, watching the two of them worriedly, not understanding what was happening but clearly aware that it was nothing _good_. 

“What?” it felt like the silence was ringing in Isaac’s ears, the same feeling of the earth rushing towards him that he used to get during his panic attacks, like his chest was constricting and he couldn’t breathe properly. Isaac grabbed Derek’s hand, squeezing it like his skin held any kind of answers- “Derek, where’s Laura?” 

Distantly, Isaac could feel Matt’s hands trying to curl him away from Derek, from where Isaac was shaking him wildly, desperate and afraid like if he just tried _harder_ , Derek would get the answers that Isaac wanted. 

“Where’s _Laura_ , Derek?” Isaac’s hands shook. 

Derek’s eyes were pained, guilty and Isaac shook harder, breathing erratic and fully into anxiety territory. 

Matt had his arms wrapped around him, squeezing tightly like he had been taught and it wasn’t enough, that small measure of comfort from his best friend but Isaac still took it, leeched the warmth like it was the only good thing in a world where Derek’s desperate and shadowed face was the entire focus of his existence. 

“Laura’s missing, Isaac” Derek said and his voice cracked, “I can’t find her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony's the hot mechanic that kanima!Jackson murders.


	3. Chapter 3

Isaac practically tumbled out of the car as it screeched to a stop, running on numb, heavy legs. Distantly, he could hear the sounds of Matt’s shouting behind him and Derek’s snarl but the only thing he could really concentrate was that familiar heartbeat thudding painfully against his ears. 

He must have burst through the door, which was strange because Isaac could have sworn that it was locked when they drove up to the house but the next thing he knew- he was on the ground, a dull pressure on his back from where Derek had apparently tackled him to the floor before he could… he could- 

Jesus, he craned his neck and stared. 

Laura, alive- but covered in bruises and scrapes, huddling into one of Derek’s old thick sweaters- she stared right back at them. 

“What the-?” Isaac smelled the stranger too late, and Laura would probably have had something to say about the fact that he could feel the heat moving across his vision turning his eyes gold, if it hadn’t been for Derek who calmly and unhesitatingly grabbed the scruff of Isaac’s neck and turned his head away from where Sheriff Stilinski was staring at them with wide eyed incredulity. 

“ _Mister_ Hale-“ the Sheriff moved towards them, purposeful and determined- “just what is it exactly that you think you’re doing to Isaac?” 

The reason why the Sheriff smelled so familiar finally registered with Isaac, that combination of wood, a musty vanilla and the underlying hint of salt beneath it all- he was Stiles’ dad. Dimly, he could remember the comments in the locker room- stupid variations on a running theme but at the time, he hadn’t been paying too much attention to the buzzcut kid jittering with adrenaline and nerves at tryouts, too busy threatening Greenberg to leave Matt alone this year. 

Fortunately, the coach at the new high school- Finstock, had taken a spectacular dislike to Greenberg and Isaac had spent half the tryout session smirking as Matt’s old bully was forced to run lap after lap. 

“Well- Mister Hale?” the Sheriff crouched beside them and Isaac realized how bad it must have looked to him. He elbowed Derek, who had frozen unhelpfully and was probably now making the situation even worse by radiating murderous eyebrows and gloomy disposition all over the place. 

“Derek’s helping me with my tackles,” Isaac inhaled and avoided looking anywhere at the sofa where he could feel Laura watching them silently. 

Another thing desperately wrong with the situation. 

Laura was never silent, never still. 

She should have been taking control of the situation- making fun of Derek’s intensity and lightening the mood in the room with one of her quicksilver smiles. 

Instead she sat there, hooded eyes and a gut clenching vulnerability to her that Isaac had _never_ , ever wanted to see on her again. 

Derek got off him with the kind of awkwardness that usually resulted in them either getting new and exciting visits from the town’s authority figures or another admirer for Derek’s face. He pulled Isaac to his feet in one brief movement, brushing dust off his shirt mechanically. 

The Sheriff looked like he didn’t know what to start paying attention to first- Derek’s fumbling, awkward attempts at being gentle; Isaac’s flushed face and the way he had automatically tried to nuzzle into Derek’s space before remembering exactly what was going on and then attempting to slap Derek’s hand away before everything got a lot more awkward. 

Laura coughed behind them, standing from the couch with a painful wince- “Sheriff,” she began with one of her old smiles, only more shaded and surface deep. “It’s alright, we’ll take it from here.” She took the man’s elbow before gently herding him towards the door, where Isaac could see Matt fruitlessly trying to blend in with the wallpaper. 

“I’ll talk to my brother and Isaac and explain everything that’d happened.” 

Sheriff Stilinski made one more valiant effort to twist away from Laura’s grip but either she had hypnotized him earlier when they had been sitting her alone or maybe she still retained some of her old strength, either way- Laura smiled and when Matt had stepped forward to open the door, Laura pushed the Sheriff through it before giving him a wave and closing it firmly behind him. 

“ _What the hell_?” Matt burst out as soon as the door closed, flinging himself forward with the kind of unreserved intensity he usually hid. “Laura,” he turned to her, grimacing as he stepped forward, “what happened? What’s wrong? Who hurt you?”

Derek started growling again and surreptitiously, Isaac stepped sideways and very carefully ground the heel of his foot into Derek’s toes. The growling stopped and Derek’s glare ratcheted up to a new and amazingly murderous level. 

“Matt,” Derek turned away from shooting Isaac his insanity eyebrows and stepped forward, hands outstretched, palms open and placating- “come on man. I think this is something we’re going to have to deal with on our own. It’s time for you to go home.”

“No!” Matt burst out, finger pointing right at Derek’s chest. “Fuck that! This _is_ home, I’ve practically grown up here, so you don’t get to tell me that this is private. No,” he shook his head stubbornly, obstinately, getting that stubborn glint in his eye that meant trouble for everyone around. “I’m staying.” 

Derek looked like he was about to physically scoop Matt up and carry him out when Laura cleared her throat. 

“He’s right,” she said quietly, the usual steel in her voice evident even now- “he’s family. You know he is Derek, he’s grown up with us.” She shot Matt, who was practically beaming at her, a small smile before frowning- “he’s _ours_ , and you know what that means.” 

In the silence that followed, Isaac took the opportunity to shuffle closer to his best friend. 

Matt, stubborn and obsessive, with a loyal streak a mile wide and an epic unrequited love for a girl that had never noticed him. 

Isaac smiled down at him before leaning over, “you know how you’ve always wondered about our family camping trips?” 

Matt blinked, “that’s a strange segue.” 

Isaac motioned over to Laura and Derek who looked like they were having a furious conversation with their eyebrows alone. “Well, _this_ , this has directly to do with it.” 

Laura’s eyebrows seemed to win that argument and Derek huffed, stepping backwards and crossing his arms lamely across his chest. He glowered at the world at large like he couldn't understand why it and everyone around him were choosing to hurt him so. 

“Matt,” Laura said slowly, “do you trust us?” 

Matt glanced away from Isaac, “am I going to get inducted into a cult?” he asked suspiciously. “Is this what it is? Because I gotta tell you, I’m not exactly cult material. I talk a lot and I have a worrying addiction to chips and Star Trek marathons. Also, I tend to wear denim on denim and that just doesn't scream cult material to me.” 

Laura gave a small smile, “I know honey. This isn't a cult, and I've already told you to burn your denim jacket.”

Matt flushed at the term of endearment before scratching self-consciously at the back of his neck, “yeah, I trust you” he mumbled. 

Laura nodded before shooting Isaac a reassuring look, “that’s good. That’s real good. Now I need you to be calm,” she said and motioned over to Isaac, “and look at your best friend.” 

 

+

 

“I’m not talking to you,” Matt said stubbornly, striding across the parking lot faster than his height should have allowed him to. 

“Oh come on,” Isaac followed after him, only a small sliver of worry that Matt would actually hold on to this ridiculous grudge forming in his stomach, “it’s not like I was allowed to tell _anyone_ , alright?” 

Matt whirled around. ‘Dramatically’, Isaac’s mind supplied, and snapped- “am I just _anyone_ to you? I’m your goddamn best friend Isaac! You’re supposed to tell me these things!” 

Isaac whipped his head up to see if anyone was near them. All he could see was McCall’s sidekick loitering near the lockers conspicuously and one of the lacrosse players, the nicer one with the lopsided smile, watching them from his locker. 

“Matt, come on, keep it down-“ Isaac implored, steering Matt away from a potential audience, “this is a _secret_ ,” he hissed. “If people find out about this, it’ll be even more dangerous for us here.” 

“Were you even going to tell me? Huh? If that hadn’t happened to Laura?” Matt demanded. 

A small, pained sound tore out of Isaac’s throat against his will and Matt slumped as he heard it.

“Shit man, I’m sorry” Matt murmured soothingly before reaching out to rub a comforting hand down Isaac’s back, “you know you’re my best friend. I’m just upset…and scared.” He paused, rubbing Isaac’s back unselfconsciously, evidently unaware of the way the lacrosse player was basically boring into his skull with his eyes alone. “Was Laura okay when I left?” 

Laura, after the shrieking and the explanations and the soothing green tea that they kept around for Matt because he tended to get high strung easily, had stayed quiet the rest of the night. Derek and Isaac had wrapped themselves around her on the couch, all three of them pretending to watch the television instead of wondering about who had done that to her. 

“It’s hard for her,” Isaac picked at his words carefully, “because she had been born like,” he paused, “ _that_ , it’s pretty terrible for her to adjust to being-“ he broke off. 

“Human,” Matt finished, “it’s hard for her to adjust to being human.” 

“Yeah,” Isaac nodded, “and to not being the alpha. It’s something that’s ingrained in us, the pack hierarchy and all of us are pretty freaked by what’s going on.” 

“How’s Derek dealing with it?” Matt frowned. 

Isaac shrugged , “he’s not. He’s brooding and probably blaming himself for what happened.” 

“Do you have any idea about what happened?” 

Isaac shook his head, “no. Laura just said that she was in the woods, investigating a deer carcass that had been found near their old house when something attacked her. She woke up human and hurt.” 

Isaac carefully didn’t mention Laura’s words about sensing magic before the attack. There was no need to bring up the fact that whoever had attacked Laura was either a witch, or had a witch working with them. 

“Alright,” Matt nodded decisively before throwing an arm around Isaac’s shoulders, or somewhere near his shoulders considering the fact that he was almost a head shorter than him. “We’re going to get through this, I’ll help research the situation. We’ll take Derek back to the woods and he’ll do a sniff test,” Matt grinned suddenly, “and _wow_ \- the opportunities for dog jokes are endless. But we’ll get through this.” 

That was the thing about Matt. He could be over dramatic, he tended to get locked into his obsessive patterns and he had a frankly worrying collection of Star Trek memorabilia in a secret box that only Isaac knew about but he was also loyal and stupidly action-oriented. One only needed to think about his various plans on finally breaking down Allison's defenses to figure that out. 

Isaac grinned back at Matt fondly before elbowing him in the ribs, “no dog jokes. I’m a wolf too and remember that I can always kick your-“ he broke off, a buzz rushing through his blood and an involuntary growl breaking out. 

“What?” Matt ducked out of his embrace, standing closer in case of a threat. “What is it? What’s going on?” 

Isaac could feel his claws slipping out, a slick movement that by now felt as natural as running to him and the air took on a tinted, golden hue. 

Scott McCall stood frozen at the end of the hall, his eyes the same beta yellow as Isaac’s.


	4. Chapter 4

“Oh Jesus,” Matt flailed a little; sidestepping Isaac’s popped out claws. “Is this what I think it is?” 

“He’s a _wolf_ ,” Isaac growled and took a step forward. 

McCall, in reaction looked like a curious combination of werewolf pissed and teenage boy scared but nevertheless steeled himself for the confrontation. 

For a moment, Matt looked like he was about to watch it all go down- probably remembering how McCall had waylayed Allison into eating with him not two days before, all shy smiles and easy, unassuming laughter. It probably warmed the cockles of Matt’s vengeance-loving heart, the hope that Isaac would take his rival apart, but then common sense took over and Matt visibly shook his head before elbowing Isaac in the guts- “ _no_ ”. 

“No, no, no,” Matt kept shaking his head and pushing Isaac, until he had no choice but to fall into one of the empty classrooms, staring incredulously at his very human best friend who obviously had no self-preservation instincts whatsoever. 

Isaac snapped out of his shock as soon as the door closed behind them and then, the next thing he knew- his elbow was crushing Matt’s throat and he was growling visibly into his face, eyes flashing and eyeteeth itching. 

“You don’t ever, _ever_ do that again.” 

Matt paled, swallowing painfully before turning his head a little to the side- baring the long, vulnerable line of his throat. 

The rage, the instinctual and violent anger within him- it began to subside and Isaac could feel his human senses flooding back to control. First and foremost, there was the fond thought that _of course_ Matt would have researched wolf behaviours yesterday. The first thing he would have looked up, especially after the insane filled day of yesterday would have been how to diffuse tense situations. 

Matt had never been a particularly violent type of guy. 

Shame tasted acrid on the back of Isaac’s throat. Matt had never been a violent guy and he had just almost strangled him. 

“Shit,” Isaac stepped away, “shit, I’m so sorry.” 

Matt watched him warily before nodding slowly, “it’s fine. I know you’re on edge from everything that’s happening, I read about packs needing an alpha to be stable.” He bowed his head before moving into Isaac’s personal space, “hey,” he reached out slowly, “it’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it. It’s _fine_ , it’s just the wolf.” 

“It’s not fine,” Isaac shook his head, “I shouldn’t have hurt you. Shit,” he bit his lip, “you’re human Matty, you’re so much weaker than us. I shouldn’t have done that.” He could feel his hands trembling and Isaac crossed his arms, wrapping them around his body as tightly as he could- an old defense mechanism that he really thought he had grown out of. 

Matt looked worried, “you’ve never lost control with me like that before…” 

He frowned, concerned and worried and for a moment- Isaac could see the thirteen year old boy he had first taken home, vibrating with nerves and excitement at finally making a friend. “Does your control really depend on Laura that much?” 

There was no way to explain it to a human, the connection between an alpha and beta- the sense of complete _belonging_ and safety. How Laura could make him feel like everything in the world would be alright just by smiling and how her happiness was enough to overturn even the crappiest of days. How even his connection to Derek ran through his bond with Laura. 

But he could try. For Matt and for summers spent playing in the park, Matt helping him practice for softball and then lacrosse, despite being one of the most honestly uncoordinated people ever. 

Isaac swallowed before reaching out and taking hold of Matt’s wrist, grounding himself in the solid reality of his best friend, the heat of his skin and how despite the revelation of everything being different- Matt still felt the same. Like loyalty. 

“She’s not only my alpha,” Isaac tried to make Matt understand, “she saved my life.” 

Matt inhaled, “yeah, I get it.” 

The moment stretched, easy and light- like it used to be back when they were fourteen and the only thing they really had going on in their life were lazy afternoons spent watching Star Wars movies and pigging out on Derek’s cookies. 

“This is getting really gay,” Isaac finally said, “and I say that as someone who’s wanted Jackson Whittemore since he hit puberty.” 

“Oh thank god,” Matt started laughing, “I was going to say something but I wasn’t sure whether your werewolf sensibilities would be offended.” 

Isaac could feel himself grinning so hard, his face was hurting. 

Then it hit him. “Someone bit McCall.”

Matt’s eyes widened and he whipped his head back to the door, “shit, and if Laura’s been out of it the whole night-“ 

“That means that McCall knows who took her power,” Isaac was already running as he yelled back the words, busting the door open and skidding around the corner as he ran into the hallway. 

The almost empty hallway where neither McCall or Stilinski were anywhere to be found and a lacrosse player was loitering suspiciously near the door through which Matt soon appeared, looking wild-eyed and disheveled. 

Isaac ran out, following the smell of McCall, blood pounding loudly in his ears. 

The parking lot was empty. 

Isaac crouched in one of the parking spaces, the last place where he could scent newly turned werewolf and that faint smell of medication and sugar that followed Stilinski around like a shadow and touched his fingers to the ground. The asphalt was almost hot from where the jeep had peeled out. 

Matt run out of the school, “Isaac?” before stumbling to a stop beside him. 

“He’s gone,” Isaac said hollowly, “he’s in a car. I can’t track him if he’s in a car.” 

Matt stood silently for a moment before turning to him with one of his wide smiles, “but I bet that Derek could.” 

 

+

 

Derek looked grumpy and a little incredulous when he saw that Matt was coming along with them. 

“Why aren’t you in class?” he hairy-eyeballed him as he drove. “I get why Isaac’s here, I need him to make contact with this kid but I don’t see the point of you coming along.” 

Matt stuck his head between the two front seats and gave Derek a wide, beaming smile- “aww, big D. I think its great how after four years of me being best friends with your little brother; me and you have managed to keep the flame alive.” He leered at Derek, “it gives me hope for our future.” 

Derek shuddered, gagging wildly before using one of his hands to shove Matt back into the backseat- “oh, _ugh_ \- just sit there and keep your mouth shut.” 

“Certainly darling,” Matt said, making a face at Isaac behind Derek’s back. 

“And I saw that,” Derek snapped out, “that wasn’t cute.” 

“That’s not what your sister said,” Matt said snottily before choking on the words. 

The temperature in the car felt distinctly chillier as Derek glowered in the driver’s seat and Matt looked pale behind them. 

As a result, when they had finally driven up to the Sheriff’s house- it was up to Isaac to make conversation with the man himself when he opened his door. 

“Um,” Isaac started out strong, “hi. Sheriff Stilinski,” he said inanely before Matt, the coward, pushed him forward a little bit- “you remember us,” a nervous peal of laughter, almost hysterical exploded out of him and all three of the others stared at him strangely. 

“Sheriff,” Derek nodded uselessly and then continued to stand there like a giant creeper with crazy eyebrows and a leather jacket. 

“Oh jeez,” Matt shouldered his way to the front before throwing the Sheriff a beaming, completely fake smile. “Hello there,” he said before shoving a hand at the increasingly more bemused looking man, “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced before- I’m Matt Daehler.” 

“Hi Matt,” the Sheriff shook his hand, lips twitching like he was fighting a smirk at the absurdity of the situation. “What can I help you with?” 

It was only years of watching Matt gear up for bigger and more elaborate lies that taught Isaac that nothing good would come out of the pink shading of his best friend’s ears. 

“We’re here to see Stiles about the yearbook committee,” Matt blurted out before a pleased looking smile spread its way across his face. “We’re working on it. Together.” He threw an arm around somewhere in the vicinity of Isaac’s ribs and hauled him closer, “me, my best friend and your son.” 

The Sheriff stared down at Matt, “you’re working on the yearbook after the first week of school?” 

Matt looked deeply pained before throwing a pleading look up at Isaac. 

Isaac would have helped but at this point, he really had no idea what to say and to be honest, he was kind of looking forward to seeing how Matt dug himself out of the situation. 

“Well, it’s a completely new and blended school for all of us, right?” Matt said vaguely, throwing murderous promises with his eyes in Isaac’s direction. Which considering that they were still plastered against each other like the worst kind of after school special, wasn’t really all that hard. 

“So, we’ve decided to start work on this early. Make sure that _everyone_ is involved in this project.” 

The Sheriff nodded seriously before sniffing over in Derek’s direction, “and what about Mister Hale over here?” He crossed his arms, “from what I can remember, and correct me if I’m wrong- my memory isn’t the greatest anymore, but isn’t Derek a tad too old to be on a high school yearbook committee?” 

Matt looked thoroughly betrayed by the fact that apparently Derek’s age was standing in the way of his cover story. 

“I’m their college advisor,” Derek sighed before stepping forward, “I’m helping them write about the different institutions in the area.” 

The Sheriff blinked, “I thought you were working over at the garage with Tony?” 

“I’m finishing up my thesis year,” Derek shuffled in place, like he did any time that somebody started talking about his hilariously earnest love of Victorian literature. 

“Well in that case,” the Sheriff still looked suspicious but now, instead of looking at the three of them like possible criminals, he was now eyeing them with something like fond resignation- “come on in.” 

Matt, emboldened by what he clearly thought was a clever and well-thought out ruse, practically skipped inside. Isaac followed him much more sedately, keeping his ears cocked for the noises that were coming from up the stairs. Or, the lack of noises more like- just two, rapidly beating heartbeats, a human and werewolf and no other movement. 

The Sheriff stopped Derek at the door, “how’s Laura doing, son?” 

Isaac glanced back at him, just in time for Derek to meet his gaze straight on. 

“She’s dealing,” Derek said and Isaac could smell no lie on him, “she’s strong and she’ll get through this. She’ll be like new again in no time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm shulik1 on tumblr. I talk about the universes I've created, post fandom related stuff, swear, post hip-hop quotes and generally ramble. 
> 
> I like people.


	5. Chapter 5

Matt took control of the situation pretty fast, he _had_ to, seeing as how he was apparently the sanest one by far out of the three of them and Isaac’d resorted to staring at McCall with a flinty eyed intensity that had everyone shifting warily. Matt had never had much Faith in Derek’s conversational abilities. 

“You told my dad we’re _study buddies_?” Stiles hissed at Isaac, edging around Derek with a hunted glance. 

“Yeah…” Isaac drew out unhelpfully before raising a challenging eyebrow. “What of it?” 

He then continued with his excellent lifechoice of staring at McCall like a hypnotized snake. 

“What _of_ it?” Stiles spluttered. “What about my GPA? Huh? Did you ever think that my dad’s going to ask questions about what we’re studying? I have a four point oh, which only Lydia and Danny can say in our dumb as shit school-“ 

“Hey!” Matt found himself in uncomfortable solidarity with McCall, who at least had the grace to look just as startled before shifting in place. 

“I have a three point five,” Matt said testily, “which is still pretty respectable.” 

“Three point oh,” Isaac muttered distractedly, finally blinked and broke out of his weird McCall induced hypnosis gifting them all with a sunny look, all high cheekbones and wide blue eyes. There was a silence as everyone stared at him. 

Matt sighed and waited for it. 

“I don’t test well,” Isaac beamed at them and the sun chose that moment to peek through Stiles’ window, helpfully illuminating Isaac from the back and further completing the whole angelic effect he was currently working. 

Stiles made a squawking sound, mouth falling open unattractively as he stared. Even McCall, who Matt had never gotten any bicurious vibes from looked appropriately impressed. 

Derek, because he had no joy in his soul, the bastard chose that moment to butt in. “High school grades aside,” he said with a whole lot of murder in his voice and some pretty serious insanity going on around the general eye and eyebrow area- “we need to talk about your newest… _change_.” 

“So you know what happened to me?” Scott almost toppled out of his chair in his haste to get closer to Derek. “You know about the dog?” 

There was a beat before Matt could feel the bone-deep certainty that bonehead McCall was in his life for the foreseeable future solidifying. “Oh Jesus,” he sighed, “it wasn’t a dog.” 

McCall and Stiles exchanged one of those best friend type looks that Matt would have been gladly exchanging with Isaac, had Isaac not chosen that moment to start looking dreamy again. 

Derek leaned forward, arms on his knees, eyes especially intense. “Where were you bitten?” 

Isaac tensed beside Matt. 

Werewolf or not, it was instinct at this point- Matt bumped his shoulder gently in the easiest way he could offer reassurance. Isaac shot him a grateful smile before turning back to McCall. 

Who stumbled forward at Stiles’ none too gentle shove, then sighed and slowly lifted his shirt, exposing a silvery looking bite, already fully healed and scarred. 

Derek sucked in a breath. “Where were you?” 

If possible, McCall started looking even more awkward and shifty, trading uncomfortable looks with Stiles. 

“Just tell them,” Stiles sighed, “it’ll probably help.”

Scott stared at his feet before mumbling, “in the woods.” 

“Jesus kid, this whole town is _surrounded_ by woods. Do you mind narrowing that down a little bit?” Derek rolled his eyes. 

“Byrwiohtlhk-“ Scott flushed a dark, brick red. 

“What?” Matt made a face before turning to Isaac, “did you get that?” 

Apparently he had. 

Isaac paled and moved forward, faster than Matt’s eyes could track, just in time to stop Derek from slamming into McCall, eyes flashing bright, unnatural blue and fangs descended. 

“What the _hell_ were you doing near my house?” Derek snarled into McCall’s face. 

“You were near the house? Why didn’t we hear you?” Matt asked. 

He frowned, watching Isaac brace himself against Derek’s larger body. He surreptitiously fingered the cellphone in his pocket, he wouldn’t bet on it, but he’d try as hard as he could to get Laura over to Stiles’ before Derek turned really murderous. 

“He was at the _old_ house,” Isaac gritted out before whispering something into Derek’s ear. 

Goddamn werewolf hearing, Matt thought as Derek slumped, stopped snarling angrily while McCall flinched, face flooding with hurt and shame. A petty, mean part of Matt relished the hurt look on McCall, revelled in it and wanted it to last as long as possible. He wasn’t so great now, was he, no last minute heroics to pull out of his ass and no Allison to look at him, impressed and doe-eyed with hair that smelled of wildflowers and a smile that gave Matt butterflies after all these years. But then, the moment had passed and instead of seeing a vanquished rival, someone who was beating Matt to the girl of his _dreams_ , McCall just looked tired. 

Scared. And young. 

It was deeply unsettling, seeing the lost, unsure side of the kid that Matt was fully primed to hate. 

He’d even started a list with Isaac, a list that Isaac hadn’t really contributed to, had only shaken his head and watched Matt rant with the air of one long used to such things and then had slid a jello cup across the table, strawberry- because he knew things about Matt that nobody else did and that also included his inexplicable fondness for strawberry desserts. 

Matt knew about the Hales’ old house in the woods, the family home that had burned down ten years ago with ten other family members. Isaac had said that Laura adopted him when she was eighteen, she was the reason why he had never been in the system, had never had to experience the worst of the foster-care world. Isaac had never gone into details but Matt knew that his best friend had come from an abusive background and the Hales had saved him from a life of hell. Had given him another family. 

If he was honest, with himself more than others, then Matt was prepared to admit that when Isaac had dragged him for the first time, when they’d stumbled through the door and Matt had hung back, nervous and fidgeting just in time to see a bag of flour explode out into the hallway and two coughing, white-covered figures tumbling out of the kitchen, that was the day when Matt got a kind of second family too. 

Though his parents weren’t bad people. 

Matt would never call them abusive but they also were the kind of people who probably should never have had a kid. Both of them travelled more often than not for work and from the time that Isaac had called him a creeper, back in middle school, before Matt started to realize that maybe Allison would never like him, maybe the whole elaborate idea of her, an untouchable princess, one too good for the likes of the slime crawling around them- maybe that idea was wrong- Matt, as lost as he had been, as _lonely_ , he’d finally been found. 

Stiles, bless his hyperactive little soul chose that moment to jump into the fray- “guys come on. Let’s be reasonable adults,” he stopped, stared at Matt and McCall and then at Isaac who was still doing a pretty good impression of weeping ivy, but maybe with super strength as he kept Derek away from McCall’s throat. “Well, there’s one semi-adult and four teenagers but that’s not the point!” 

Stiles held up his index finger, waving it in the air to emphasize his words- “the point is _this_. We’re going to have to work together to figure this thing out. 

Now,” he turned to Derek, “you said that it wasn’t you who bit Scott?” 

“No,” Derek shook his head, looking pained and a little rageful around the eyes as he glared at Stiles, “and it wasn’t my sister. We think that Scott,” Derek’s eyebrow made an aborted twitching movement in McCall’s direction, “was attacked right _after_ Laura. We came to see if he remembers anything about who it was.” 

“Good, good-“ Stiles nodded his head frantically, “well, not _good_ as in I think it’s awesome that my best friend and your sister were mauled in the woods but good as in we’re starting to work together!” He clapped his hands and actually bounced in place. 

“Dude, how much sugar are you _on_?” Matt could feel his eyebrows trying to become one with his hairline. It was very, very disconcerting. 

Goddamn it, he had to start spending less time around Derek if Stilinski’s hyperactivity was giving him a headache. He used to have a much higher tolerance for usual teenage bullshit. 

“I have ADHD,” Stiles said with dignity, “and also I’ve been up for the last two nights trying to figure out what happened to Scotty here, I can’t be blamed for anything that happened to me or around me.” 

“Is that why you smell like Skittles and Mountain Dew?” Isaac finally slid off Derek’s frame, landing in a graceful crouch that Matt could now identify as  
 _animalistic_ whereas before, he would have probably thought it was nothing more but the Hales’ freakish, beautiful influence. 

Genetic lottery winning bastards. 

“I needed nourishment,” Stiles said shiftily and manfully ignored the puppy eyed pout that McCall was currently smothering him with. Matt hated the guy (well, he _disliked_ him, didn’t want to hang out with him…alright fine, McCall would be fine if only it wasn’t for his thing with Allison who was beautiful and a princess and much too good for Scott McCall’s slobbering, werewolf ways). 

“Dude,” Isaac whispered down at Matt, stupidly tall and lovable asshole with stupid werewolf tricks up his sleeve- “I can _feel_ you making up dog jokes about Scott when you inhale. You need to stop it before Derek stops being distracted by Stiles' smell and whacks you one.” 

Correction, stupidly tall and lovably assholish _best friend_ who knew Matt inside and out and could also probably tell how badly Matt wanted to call McCall Lassie and see where it got him. 

His brain screeched to a halt as some of Isaac’s words registered, “wait, _what_??” 

It was true. Derek, he of the murderous eyebrows and disturbing need to narrate every horror movie to point out the inaccuracies currently had the strangest expression on his face. Half confused constipation and half fearful longing, he was shooting some serious side-eye at Stiles Stilinski, the resident hyperactive kid and insane genius of BHHH and holder of the longest and creepiest crush on Lydia Martin. It was strange, weird and disconcerting seeing Derek actually act _human_ and vulnerable for once, and Stiles wasn’t even looking. 

And Matt had gone camping with them and had watched, gleeful and cackling as Derek had struggled with a can of chili due to being dumb enough to leave the opener at home, until Laura had taken pity on them and had disappeared into the woods before coming back with a pan full of delicious, delicious bean and beef chilli all scooped out and ready to heat. At the time, she had said that she’d managed to find the perfect rock to slice the can open but now, post-supernatural revelations, Matt had the sudden startling realization that Laura probably hid behind a bush and popped open some cans with a wolfy claw or two. 

“That’s kinda hot,” Matt said out loud. 

Isaac side eyed him. 

“I’m thinking about your guardian, Laura, not this one-” Matt told him honestly before nodding at Derek, because one could always depend on one’s best friend to share some hard-earned wisdom and to also break the ice, “in sexy, sexy ways.” 

Isaac punched him. It hurt. Probably less than it would have, had Isaac used werewolf strength and definitely less than Derek would have if he hadn’t been busy staring at Stiles and apparently smelling him like a giant weirdo. 

Stiles noticed though. “Oh yeah…” he said before a wide, delighted grin broke out on his face. “in all this hullaballoo, I kinda forgot that _your_ Laura,” he gestured at Derek who immediately tried to look less besotted and like he was about to start composing epic poems to Stiles’ face, “is Laura Hale…Man,” Stiles paused and then Matt noticed Scott signalling some pretty heavy ‘stop for the love of god’ signals behind his back. “She’s _really_ , really hot. Like , I used to have the biggest crush on her whenever she’d volunteer at our school.” 

There was a beat of silence and when Derek didn’t explode into some terrible, bloody violence- everyone relaxed before Derek actually opened his mouth. 

“People say I look like her,” he said casually, staring into the distance and looking especially Byronic. His hair looked even more gravity-defying and Matt could have sworn that for a beat, Derek’s stubble actually seemed _darker_ than usual. 

“Huh,” Stiles scrunched his nose, studying Derek’s profile- “I guess I can see it, I mean, you’re both obviously hot and both could probably murder me faster than I could sneeze- so yeah…” Stiles concluded, “I guess people are right.” 

“Well, alright, that’s enough.” Scott very determinedly began shoving them out of the door, “if _I_ ,” he emphasized weirdly at Derek, “have any more questions, _I’ll_ make sure to let you know but other than that, goodbye, have a great life and good luck with finding the werewolf that-“ he broke off, “that started all of this.” 

Next thing he knew, Matt was standing behind Derek and Isaac on the Stilinskis’ front lawn, Isaac was still clutching a throw pillow that he had apparently started to cuddle for no good reason in the living room and had apparently departed with in the haste of Scott’s goodbyes. He also looked very confused, rumpled and simultaneously offended. The overall effect was somewhat like a grumpy sheep, Matt desperately wanted to fondle Isaac’s hair and feed him something delicious. 

Derek on the other hand looked delighted, inasmuch as Derek _could_ look delighted, which for him meant that the eyebrows weren’t as furrowed or raised as they could have been and there was a teeny smirk on his lips and a bright glint in his eyes as he threw one last glance over his shoulder at Stiles’ front door. 

“Come on, we’ve got to go,” Derek said before herding them down the pathway, “Laura’ll be worried.” 

The reminder of Laura, who _was_ probably worried and who, for the first time in her life was also _human_ was enough to speed their pace up. By the time they were driving down home, Matt had already began picturing the desperation that Laura must be feeling, the fear, the anxiety. 

She’d probably want him to comfort her, Matt thought and then almost tripped over his feet in his haste to get out of the car. 

Derek was still faster than him though, practically running into the house with a loud shout of “Laur?” before falling silent. 

Matt and Isaac exchanged worried glances before sprinting after him. 

Matt smacked his head into Isaac’s shoulder before skidding to a stop in front of him, the picture on the couch somehow much worse than anything he could have imagined. Laura, in her favourite bunny pajamas (that now seemed much, much more sinister now that the whole _wof_ thing was out of the hat), was curled up into a ball on the couch, a large bowl of popcorn drizzled with chocolate to her left, a throw around her legs and Maury Povitch on the tv. 

“Laura, what the hell?” Derek shook his head, like he was trying to shake the picture loose. Like a dog, Matt’s treacherous mind shouted before gleefully descending into a rousing rendition of ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’ 

Laura looked deeply unimpressed at them, “I called a coven in Mulvern, they said they’d scry for me and I talked to Alan, who said that he’d look into it. Seeing as how I can’t leave the house without the closest neighbour treating me like an anti-violence PSA, I thought I’d check and see how the human half lives.” She turned back to the tv, hand snaking for a fistful of chocalatey goodness- “it’s kinda nice, Der.”

Derek was still standing, like he had been struck deaf, dumb and blind when Matt’s ass made sweet, sweet contact with the couch groove that he had managed to work in the last three years. 

“Paternity show?” Matt nodded over at the tv. 

“No,” Laura shook her head before turning to shoot Matt a small, grateful smile- “their moms are apparently strippers who’ve had alien sex which has resulted in some pretty interesting pregnancy stories. It’s just started,” she lifted the bowl over to Matt’s side, “popcorn?” 

Isaac was already reaching for his own handful, having apparently completely forgotten the rules of supressing werewolf speed now that the cat was out of the proverbial bag. 

Derek growled for a little bit and banged some glasses in the kitchen before finally giving into the inevitable and sitting in the armchair. 

If it wasn’t for whatever the hell was out there, terrorizing the town and bringing about violence and pain- Laura’d be completely right. As it was, it _was_ nice. 

 

+

 

And then all the laughter in the world was cut short the next day in school. 

Danny Mahealani, he of the unfortunate tendency of ending up wherever Matt was having a supernatural breakdown, grabbed his elbow the next day near the lockers and leaned close. 

“Listen, Jackson’s missing and I think your boyfriend knows exactly what happened to him.”

Matt started laughing before it hit him, “my _who_?” 

He had the sinking feeling he was making some Derek levels of crazy eyes over at Danny. Who smelled _really_ nice and had a dimple and the darkest, chocolate brown eyes that Matt had ever seen. 

“Lahey, your boyfriend- you know,” Danny gestured over at his own eyelevel, “about yea high, blonde curls, cornflower blue eyes and a pair of cheekbones that you could cut yourself on. Also some serious, serious anger management problems and a tendency to wear leather even in the summer. ” 

Matt felt irrationally offended, “stop talking about Isaac that way.” 

Danny looked apologetic, “look, I’m sorry, it’s just- Jackson’s missing and the last time I talked to him, he was babbling something about going back to the Hale place to become strong.” Danny looked away, swallowed hard before whirling back at Matt- “and I know that they adopted Isaac and practically adopted you. So I’m asking for your help, _please_ , please help me find my best friend.” 

Matt opened his mouth before Danny jumped back in, “and yeah, I _know_ he’s an idiot, but he’s _my_ idiot, he’s my best friend and I’ll die before letting anything happen to him.” 

Isaac’s grumpy sheep face flashed in Matt’s mind. 

Jesus. What could someone say to Danny Mahealani when he was making those sincere, sensitive calf eyes at you and also murmuring things in a low, worried husk that sent strange, inconceivable shivers up Matt’s spine. 

He reached into his pocket, “just wait. Wait here, I’m going to get reinforcements for this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, I'm so sorry for the late update. 
> 
> Come and bully me on tumblr to get my shit together faster if you want to.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I'm on Tumblr- shulik1. I welcome all who aren't easily startled, that like writing, art, fanfic, gay wolves, gay angels, hip hop. Everything and anything. 
> 
> Also, I post snippets of upcoming chapters, talk about writing difficulties and talk about my original work. 
> 
> I love people and I talk too much in any medium.


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